Do you feel like you eat the same meals over and over again? Are you looking to add variety to your food in a way that doesn’t require a culinary arts education and several hours of preparation to achieve? Give simmer sauces a try.
Simmer sauces are made with delicious ingredients needed to add flavor to vegetables, meat, and more. A simmer sauce is an easy and affordable way to add variety to your family's menu while using the same healthy ingredients as you normally use to make a flavorful sauce from scratch, saving you time and livening up the taste of your food.
How to Use Simmer Sauce
Simmering is a cooking method that cooks food at a slower rate through the higher temperature of the liquid that surrounds it. It’s a way to bring out more of the flavor of the food while avoiding overcooking it. The temperature of simmering involves a bubbling of the liquids, but not bringing the contents of your saucepan to a rolling boil. It’s often the cooking method of choice for tougher cuts of meat or thick vegetables.
Because simmer sauces already come to you pre-made, you simply add the ingredients of your choice -- such as meat, vegetables, tofu, chicken, or seafood. It is often preferable to cook the meat and vegetables separate from the simmer sauce at high heat first. Then add the sauce, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes and using the time you saved in preparation to make a salad or even catch up on social media.
What to Pair with Simmer Sauce
The combinations of sauces and ingredients you can create are virtually endless. Here are some popular suggestions:
- Simply Organic Classic Fajita Simmer Sauce, combined with strips of beef or chicken, or seafood, peppers, and onions. Simmer over low heat until meat is cooked through and vegetables are soft. Serve with warm tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa for a Mexican feast for family and friends.
- Simmer browned ground meat or even shredded beef or chicken in Simply Organic Southwest Taco Simmer Sauce for your next Taco Tuesday at home. Pair with classic fixings such as shredded lettuce, cheese, and diced tomatoes on hard or soft tortillas. Add some refried beans and Spanish rice on the side.
- Simply Organic Coconut Curry Simmer Sauce, poured over lentils, rice, cashews, vegetables, or meat for a pleasantly spicy-sweet Indian-inspired dish. Paired with naan, this meal tastes like it comes from a top-notch restaurant, but you can make it at home without the hassle of hunting down the spices needed to create its buttery taste.
Do you love General Tso's Chicken at your favorite Chinese take-out place? You can make it at home, simply pairing chicken and vegetables with Simply Organic General Tso's Simmer Sauce. Serve over fried or white rice or with noodles for a classic dish that you can make in less time than it would take for your favorite restaurant to deliver it to you.- Craving enchiladas? Pair Simply Organic Red Enchilada Simmer Sauce with cheese, beef, or chicken to make a mouth-watering enchilada filling for your corn or flour tortillas. Melt some cheese over the top and serve with sides such as refried or black beans and you have a complete meal perfect for an intimate gathering or a cozy night at home.
- Pad Thai is Thailand's national dish. You can make it a favorite dish at your house too with Simply Organic Pad Thai Simmer Sauce and your own mix of beef or chicken and vegetables. Pour the mixture over noodles, and pair it with a light salad for a dinner your family will request over and over again.
For even more fun, try these creative recipes:
- Naan pizza: Use a piece of naan, topped with the simmer sauce, cheese, and other toppings of your choice and bake in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Tex-Mex noodles: Use your Red Enchilada Simmer Sauce with a pound of ground beef, browned and drained. Heat until warmed through and pour over prepared spaghetti noodles.
- Shrimp tacos: Pour some Coconut Curry Simmer Sauce over peeled, sauteed shrimp and simmer until warmed through. Place in flour tortillas with diced mangoes, shredded cabbage, and white onion.
Why Use Simmer Sauce?
Whether you're craving General Tso’s chicken, something Southwestern, or Thai food, simmer sauces allow you to take commonly used ingredients and create something that looks, smells and tastes like it came from your favorite restaurant. Simmer sauces are particularly helpful for those who have little time for meal prep or little experience with cooking. Simmer sauces also work great for making tender, flavorful meat even when the cut of meat you're using tends to be tough.
Can You Use Simmer Sauce in a Slow Cooker?
Yes, people often use simmer sauces in slow cookers. However, you will need to add additional water in order to ensure that the sauce does not get too thick while the meal is cooking. Water should be added at the beginning of the cooking process and additional water can be added while your meal cooks if you notice that the sauce is thickening too much.
Can You Use Simmer Sauce in an Instant Pot?
The most important thing when cooking with an instant pot is to ensure that you have enough liquid to keep your meat or vegetables tender. As with slow cookers, you will generally want to add enough water to the simmer sauce to keep the sauce as a liquid during the instant pot cooking process.
Why Choose Simply Organic Simmer Sauces from Co-op Market
Co-op Market has been created and maintained with a devotion to providing quality products using sustainable practices. Simply Organic is one of our flagship brands and provides us with the opportunity to invest in our grower communities where we source the spices for our products.
From start to finish, you can be sure that the quality products such as Simply Organic Simmer Sauces were produced using sustainable practices, and without GMO or irradiated ingredients that are found in so many products on the market. For more information on Simply Organic and the other brands offered by Co-op Market, contact us online or by calling 1-800-669-3275.
